Agitations for the creation of new states have somewhat become a permanent feature of Nigeria’s body politics. Since independence in 1960 till date, the clamour by some ethnic groups, sub-geo-political blocs and geo-political zones for states of their own as one of the key ways to feel a sense of belonging in the Nigeria project has dominated national discourse. In this interview, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, who was a delegate to the 2014 National Conference and former President of an Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Aka Ikenga, identified injustice against some sections of the country and ethnic nationalities in past state creation exercises by the various military regimes as the root cause of the incessant demand for new states.
As a delegate to the 2014 National Conference which recommended a 55-state structure for Nigeria, what is your reaction to the renewed clamour for new states.
Yes, I was at the Confab and I moved the motion for the creation of an extra state for the Southeast and 18 more states- three each for the six geo-political zones to bring the number to 55 and my motion was accepted. The clamour for state creation is a natural one that arose from one thing: Injustice that was done when the various state creation exercises were made. For example, the Southeast has five states while the rest of the geo-political zones have six except the Northwest which has seven. This is injustice. Military regimes created states and they perpetrated this injustice against the Southeast. The last time a civilian government created a state was in 1963 when the Midwest region was created. At the National Conference, we were able to convince everybody that the injustice could not be allowed to continue, hence the unanimous decision to create one more state for the Southeast. The first motion I moved was to give the Southeast extra one state as of right to make it six states as the other zones and it was accepted. Another motion was the creation of more states across the country so that at the end, every zone would have nine states each and that was also accepted.
Is the report of the conference, especially its recommendation for state creation still valid?
Yes, it is. We submitted the report but the government of Buhari left it to gather dust. So, the agitations for state creation are normal, and natural and will not go away until the injustice is corrected.
Can a civilian government create states via an Executive Order?
No. Not possible. The National Assembly has to approve a request for a state creation and then two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly have to approve the request too. And since our recommendation at the National Confab was for 18 new states affecting all the geo-political zones of the country, we don’t expect any refusal. So, if the National Assembly wants to commence action on it, it is easy. We even went further to prepare a resolution for the National Assembly to that effect, so if any member wants to sponsor our recommendation as a bill, all such a member needs to do is just to affix his or her name to the document as the sponsor and then the rigorous process of creating state will commence. Remember, there will even be a referendum. So, those who are touting Executive Order as a means of creating new states do not understand the meaning of lawmaking. First and foremost, to create a new state, you must follow the Constitution rigorously. The process does not involve Mr President except in signing. When the National Assembly and all the state Houses of Assembly have endorsed the creation of new states, it can now be transmitted to the President for signing but if he declines assent, the National Assembly can then invoke two-thirds and pass it into law. In any case, the creation of new states and new local government areas involves the amendment of the constitution, which is why it’s too thorough and rigorous. Anyone talking about an Executive Order about state creation is illiterate as far as lawmaking is concerned.
Coming to the question of an extra state for the Southeast, Senator Ned Nwoko representing Delta North Senatorial District in the Senate has proposed the creation of Anioma state as the sixth state for the Southeast and there is also a bill from Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere Imo representing Ideato North and South federal constituency in the House of Reps. How do you reconcile these two contradictory positions?
What, to you, is the best for the Southeast? Anioma or Orlu state? What is your view?
I have no comment on that because it is a non-issue. To have a new state created is a rigorous exercise and you have to involve all the zones. If a certain number of states don’t support you, then you are wasting your time. Hon. Ikenga is a politician and he has to get his people excited. I have also seen the proposal by Akin Fapohunda and he said he is submitting it to the president. I see all these- rearrangement of the states, zones, regions all of that- as distractions because they all know what to do to have a new state or states created. We thrashed all these at the National Conference. For instance, we know that talking about regionalization is a waste of time. Only very few states accepted it, others rejected it. If you come to the Southeast, Enugu and Ebonyi rejected regionalization. People from Borno don’t even understand what you are talking about, they tell you, oh! We are happy where we are. And one of the things we did in proposing the 18 new states was to look into the genuine complaints of the various minorities. Let me shock you, there are many minorities in the North. Down South here we see everybody as either Hausa or Fulani but that is not true. Hausa is a language, yes there is an Hausa tribe but it is a language. The Hausas are mainly farmers and traders but they are not the political leaders in the North; the political leaders are the Fulani and they are spread in all the Northern states, so we were looking beyond political leadership and that was how the proposed 18 states came about. So, Ikenga and Nwoko are free; let the agitations continue until the civilians do the right thing. That’s my answer.
What is your word for President Tinubu as regards the renewed clamour for new states? Would you want him to implement the recommendations of the 2014 Confab?
I want Mr President, that is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to look at that report, take his time and read it and get his Advisers and experts to also read it. It is important. His predecessor, Buhari said he did not read and would not read it and that it was in the archive and I said thank God it is in the archive, when we have a conscientious president, then he will look into the report. So, I want President Tinubu to look into the entire report of the National Conference. All the states were represented; for example, Lagos State had a heavyweight representation, that’s the way I describe it. Many of the states sent their first 11. So, if President Tinubu wants to stamp his name on the annals of history, he should look into the report but if he wants to be a passenger as Buhari was, he should just ignore it. (Daily Sun)
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